POL S 327 A: Women's Rights as Human Rights

SYLLABUS: Pdf version

Course Format: UPDATE: This course is structured as a Hybrid course. 

• Lectures: The lectures will not meet in person.  The lectures will be posted on the Canvas site on Tuesday and Thursday mornings as video lectures. There will be 1 or more guest lectures that will occur over a live Zoom meeting for students to join and have live Q&A. They will be marked on the syllabus in advance and they will also be recorded in case a student can not join at that time. 
• Quiz Sections: The required quiz sections will be in person. Students are required to attend the weekly Friday quiz sections in person and this will give students the opportunity to discuss the course material and complete research assignments. 

Course Description: 

This course is an elective course for the comparative legal institutions and human rights track of the Law, Societies & Justice major and serves as an elective course in the Group A Data Studies track of the Data Science Minor.  There are no pre-requisites for the course.  The course is both interdisciplinary and comparative rather than having a United States focus. The purpose of the course is to expose students to the complex issues - social, political, economic and legal - that characterize women’s rights around the globe. The course also critically examines the limits and benefits of data science approaches for women’s human rights.  Students will be asked to think critically about women’s rights while thinking comparatively about the varying domestic and international settings that can alter the meaning and practical application of these rights. The course will focus on various substantive policy areas and their intersection with women’s rights including health, the environment, gender violence and human trafficking.  

Further, students given the opportunity to conduct research on a women’s rights topic. The course will provide students with an introduction to and assistance in utilizing primary (data, court cases, treaties, policy reports etc) and secondary (peer reviewed journal articles and books) sources for conducting research.

 Course Learning Goals and Objectives

• Analyze and examine global women’s rights issues
• Critically assess the limits and benefits of using data to attain women’s human rights
• Critically assess policy approaches and solutions for global women's rights issues
• Analyze and examine the impact of gender data on society and policy makers
• Construct and conduct an independent research project using data to examine a global women's rights issue
• Acquire and apply skills to share your research analysis through a Research Paper

Assessment:

Midterm Exam                                                            25%
Research paper (9-10 pages)                                     30%
Final Exam                                                                   25%
Quiz Section Assignments/Participation                  20%